The Storm After The Calm
by BossVicCossWynch
Summary: What happened after they said I love you? - post Relationships & Red Carpets Auslly one shot


"What are you doing?"

'Something I should have done 3 years ago' Austin thought.

He didn't know what came over him. It was at that moment he realized his life was being controlled by everyone but him, and he was tired of it. It was time for him to take control of his own life. And if that cost him everything he'd worked towards to be a musician, so be it.

As he ran up onto the stage, the entire audience gasped. He could see the producers backstage checking their notes to verify that this was in fact not part of the show.

"Uhhmm... Sorry Jasmine, can I borrow that for a sec?" Austin asked a very confused Jasmine Fiera.

"Sure." she replied, very calmly for having just had the spotlight stolen from her after winning her first big award.

"Thanks, love your album by the way." Austin said awkwardly.

As Jasmine left the stage, the actuality of what he was doing set in.

He's doing it.

He's really doing it.

In front of a huge crowd.

And the entire world.

Shit.

Well it's now or never.

"Hey everybody..." he started nervously "I have something to say: by doing this I could be throwing away my career..."

He glanced over at Jimmy, who looked livid.

"But I don't care anymore. A good friend once told me 'without love what's the point of any of this?'"

"WOOOO!" he heard his best friend shout at the mention of his advice to him.

"I can't hide it anymore! When I came here tonight, I was so excited to tell the world that... I have a girlfriend."

Here is goes.

"And her name is Ally Dawson."

The entire audience gasped. The whole room was silent. Every person in the crowd had their eyes on him.

But his eyes were on her.

Only her.

"Ally, when I first met you, I had no idea that you'd be the best thing that ever happened to me. I can't imagine my life without you."

He took a deep breath and let out the words he had been holding back since she scolded him for playing the drums at her music store, 3 years prior to where they were now.

"I love you, Ally."

He said it.

He finally said it.

"I love you too, Austin." she replied through happy tears.

By now the crowd was absolutely melting, but neither of them noticed.

She jumped out of her seat and walked as fast as she could in her high heels to get to him.

He was mesmerized by what had just happened.

She loves him.

She LOVES him.

She loves HIM.

He was pulled out of his daze when her arms went around his neck and her lips met his.

The crowd exploded in applause and cheers. They ignored them. They were both exactly where they wanted to be; in the arms of the person they love.

Ally was the first one back in reality as she swiftly grabbed the microphone that was still in Austin's hand.

"By the way, Sonic Boom is having a sale on trombones." she announced, her arms still around him as he gazed at her fondly.

The audience laughed and continued their cheers as the show cut to commercial.

Austin and Ally walked off the stage hand in hand, blushing madly as they realized what they had just done.

They said I love you for the first time. And then made out. On NATIONAL TV. And it was LIVE.

The internet was no doubt exploding about what had just accrued between them.

'I wonder if the cameras got a good angle on that kiss because I might have to make it my screensaver...' Austin thought to himself.

They went back to their seats to find their friends and family, or who was still there.

Lester was quietly sobbing, Carrie was beaming, and Mike and Mimi had gone off to find Jasmine Fiera to apologize for saying such rude things to her for being nominated against Austin; also to ask her if she would be in their next commercial.

Dez had moved up to take Ally's seat next to Trish. His head was bent down to meet her's and they seemed to be talking very fast.

They jumped up when they saw Austin and Ally.

They both looked extremely anxious and nervous.

"Guys, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." said Ally.

"Yeah I mean what's the big deal? You've both seen us kiss a bunch of times!" Austin pointed out.

"No! It's not that!" Trish said. "By the way, congrats you two!"

"Yeah I mean even though we had to wait 3 YEARS, it was totally worth it." said Dez. "Good job buddy, I'm glad you finally grew some balls and told her."

Dez went in for their signature handshake as Austin blushed even more so than he already was and buried his face in Ally's hair.

"Dez! Focus!" Trish yelled "Anyway, you both realize how bad this is, right?" Trish inquired.

"What? Why?" asked Austin and Ally.

"What do you mean 'why'? Jimmy that's why!"

Oh.

Jimmy.

Jimmy Starr.

The man who told Austin he would drop him from his record label and stop him from making music if he admitted to being in a relationship with Ally.

Fuck.

"Where is he?" Austin asked.

"He left just a few minutes ago. He wants to talk to you. He said he'll be waiting in the lobby. He looked totally pissed, man." Dez explained.

"I need to talk to him." Austin said.

"I'll go with you." said Ally immediately.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea." Dez said.

"Yeah, I'm with Dez. As both of your managers and someone who is concerned for Ally's well being, I don't think you should go with him to talk to Jimmy." Trish explained.

"Yeah he's not exactly all that fond of you right now, Ally." Dez said.

"What?! Austin was the one who said he loved me on stage!" said Ally.

"Yeah but you said you loved him too and then ran up on stage and kissed him senseless so you are both pretty equally to blame for this." Dez explained.

"Guys! It's ok. I'm gonna go talk to Jimmy." Austin said.

"Good luck." they all said to Austin.

Austin looked at Ally. The expression on her face was dressed with fear and anxiety.

"Hey" he said, placing his hand on her cheek for the second time that night, "it's gonna be ok."

"I know." she replied quietly, bringing up her hand that was not intertwined with his to cover the hand on her face, looking directly into his eyes.

She squeezed his hand that was not on her cheek before she let go of it and let his arm dangle weakly at his side.

Placing a quick kiss on Ally's temple and stealing one last glance at his friends, Austin started up the isle to discover the fate of his career.

As Austin emerged into the lobby of the theater he was swarmed with press shoving cameras and microphones in his face.

"Austin! Austin! How long have you and Ally been dating?"

"Austin, over here! Are you only dating each other for publicity?"

"Austin! Austin! How serious is it?"

"Austin, right here! What did you mean by when you said you could be throwing away your career? Are you quitting music?"

Austin just waved at all the reporters, ignoring their questions. He wonders if they'll still be asking those questions when they find out he doesn't have a record deal anymore.

He continued his search for Jimmy; he spotted him in the corner of the room, with an unreadable expression on his face.

They made eye contact and Jimmy nodded to the door leading to a back exit. Jimmy went trough the door while he tried to maneuver the sea of people that was crowding the lobby.

When he finally manages to get to the door and enter it he realized how scared he was. He did not regret what he did to get in this situation and he never will, but nevertheless walking down an empty hallway to an exit that leads to an abandoned parking lot right outside the theater to meet with a man that probably hates his guts is not the most pleasant of feelings.

Oh how he envied the version of himself from 10 minutes earlier, who was kissing Ally on stage without a care in the world except her.

He got to the door, where outside of it awaited basically his entire future as a performer and musician. He took a deep breath and pushed it open.

"Jimmy-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Austin." Jimmy said sternly "I am going to talk, and you are going to listen. Got it?"

Austin nodded his head very fast, quite frightened by what was currently happening between him and a man he once considered some sort of father figure.

"Austin Moon, as of right now you are no longer a Starr Records recording artist. And this time, there's no second chances, there's no do overs, it's done. I'm sorry but I warned you about this and you still chose to disobey me.

"Look Austin, you are a good kid. And you are incredibly talented. This is not personal, it's just how it is in the industry."

"Oh really? Then how come it was totally cool for me to have a girlfriend when it was your daughter I was dating? How come it didn't matter when I dated Brooke or Piper? How come Ally is the problem here?"

Jimmy tensed at the mention of Kira and Austin's relationship.

"You were just a kid starting out back then" Jimmy explained "I knew none of those relationships would last. The problem with Ally is that you guys are serious about each other and you are basically adults. I told you, fans are more interested in buying albums from people that are single!"

"I get that" Austin said "but then explain to me why 'I Think About You' is my most downloaded song. And why MY fans, the ones that you think will buy more albums if I'm single, voted 'You Can Come To Me' as my best performance. I'm not sure, but it seems like my fans are totally cool with me not being single if I'm with Ally."

"Austin, its not that I don't want you to be with Ally; as your friend I see how happy she makes you and how much you need her. But as your boss I'm just trying to do what's best for you to be successful! I thought that's what you wanted!"

"I thought that's what I wanted too but I realized dreams change. My dream used to be to make it big in the music business, sell out tours, play Times Square on New Year's Eve; I've done all that. And if what you are telling me is that my career is over if I want to be with Ally, then I'd rather spend the rest of my life with her than continuing to live a dream that's already come true."

Jimmy was speechless. He had never heard Austin talk so passionately about something that wasn't music.

"Jimmy, you have givin me so much in life. And if you are willing to give me a second chance, I would be more than happy to live both of my dreams. But Ally is the biggest part of my life and if it's a choice between making music and her, I'd chose her in a heartbeat any day."

"It's been nice working with you, Austin" Jimmy sighed "you have grown into an amazing man."

"So that's a no on letting me stay with the label?"

Jimmy nodded.

"Ok then. Well, thanks for everything Jimmy. And I hope you realize your making a huge mistake by dropping me just because I'm in love with Ally, if that's the reason you don't want me then you shouldn't have signed me in the first place because we all know that this day was bond to happen eventually."

The look on Jimmy's face was a mixture between shock and anger.

Austin stuck out his arm to shake Jimmy's hand, but Jimmy just glanced at his outstretched arm, gave Austin one last cold look, turned on his heal and walked away.

Austin let out a sigh as all the tension lifted from the air as more distance was put between him and his former boss.

With that, Austin went back into the theater.

Austin walked slowly back into the almost empty theater, the show long over.

He was dreading breaking the news to everyone, but his parents we're the ones he was most anxious about.

His parents had always been skeptical about his dream of making music as a profession; but when he actually got signed is when they actually started believing in him. And now that he's lost his record deal, he feels like they're just going to say 'well we told you so. You should've listened to us'.

Ally was the first to notice him approaching the group with his hands deep in his pockets.

"Well" she asked nervously "what happened?"

Austin scanned the group; all of them looked extremely stressed and anxious and it pained him to know that he was the one who caused it.

"He dropped me. I'm no longer a Starr Records recording artist. Also because of my contract, Jimmy owns all the rights to all my music for the next 10 years which means I'm not aloud to perform or produce anything until that contract is up."

His parents gasped, so did Lester.

Dez had his head in his hands, his arms resting on his knees. Carrie was unsure how to react to this situation, having not been a part of Austin's career in any way, so she just rubbed Dez's back soothingly.

Trish was staring blankly at the ground, realizing that everything they had worked towards for the past 3 years was gone.

Ally was looking at him, tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Austin." she whispered "This is all my fault. I am so, so sorry."

Teardrops began to cascade down her beautiful face as she spoke.

"Ally" Austin said firmly, wiping the tears of her checks "this is not your fault. I chose this. You are the last one to blame."

She said nothing. After a moment, she wrapped her arms firmly around his waist and buried her face in his chest.

He returned the hug but wrapping his arms around her shoulders tightly, not planning on letting go anytime soon.

"It's gonna be ok." he whispered to her, kissing her head softly "We're gonna get though this. We are going to figure this out. Ok?"

She nodded her head against his chest. Dropping one last kiss to her head, he broke the embrace, keeping one arm around her shoulders pulling her close to him.

"Well" Mimi started awkwardly "I know this isn't exactly the best situation, but why don't we go out and celebrate anyway? I mean saying I love you for the first time is a big deal and you both were nominated for your first big awards."

"That's really sweet, mom" Austin replied "but it's getting late and Carrie's heading back to LA in a couple hours, and the rest of us are leaving tomorrow so I'd rather just go home and sleep if that's ok with you guys."

"Whatever you want sweetie." Mimi said sympathetically.

And with that, they all made they're way out of the empty theater.

Austin lie awake in his bed, unable to fall asleep due to all that had happened in the past 6 hours.

He knew that not to far away, there were 3 other people who could also not fall asleep for the same reasons.

It seemed silly for the 4 of them to spend this restless night alone when all the really needed right now was to be in each other's company.

He reached for his phone on the nightstand and sent a text to the 3 most important people in his life.

Austin: I know I'm not the only one who can't sleep tonight... Why don't we all meet in the practice room in 20 minutes cuz its pretty obvious none of us are going to sleep.

It wasn't even a full minute later when he got 3 replies saying they would meet him there in 20 minutes.

Austin didn't bother to change out of his sweat pants or even brush his teeth, all he needed right now was to be with his best friends.

Ally lived closest to the mall so she was the first one there, which was good because she has the key to the store.

Dez got there the same time as Ally, he had just come from the airport after dropping off Carrie.

Austin picked up Trish at her house on the way, her parents still refused to buy her her own car.

Austin and Trish entered the practice room to see that Dez and Ally had taken it upon themselves to bring every snack, movie, blanket and pillow they could find.

It was almost as if they were pulling an all-nighter to finish a song like they used to.

It was quiet. Too quiet for these 4 friends. All of them too absorbed in their own thoughts.

"Remember that time" Ally spoke up "when Austin read my book and thought I had a crush on him so he turned himself orange."

They all started laughing; and not the chuckle kind of laughing, the full on tears streaming down your face, why are we laughing so hard that wasn't even that funny, sleep deprived laughing.

"Remember when Ally stole the goose and he started flying around the movie theater during the zaliens marathon?" Dez recounted

The friends laughed harder.

"Remember when I had to pretend to be Ally for that radio interview but Dez kept thinking there was a mouse in his pants?" Trish said, through tears.

The friends kept laughing.

"Remember when we were stuck at the police station because we got locked in the freezer full of ice cream?" Austin said.

They laughed harder.

The 4 friends continued to relive past events.

"Remember when Ally twitted the picture of spider noodle soup and almost ruined Ms. Suzy's business?"

"Remember when Austin was scared to do Dez's movie because of his umbrella fear?"

"Remember when we got attacked by an alligator and sunk Shinny Money's boat?"

"Remember when Austin and Dez tried to break the world record for spinning a basketball on your finger?"

"Remember the kangaroo?!"

They laughed and laughed as they recalled all these memories from a simpler time; before girlfriends and boyfriends came into the picture. Before record deals. Before realizing that they were falling in love with each other.

"Remember when I had nodules and we almost missed our chance with Jimmy." Austin said, barely above a whisper.

Dez, Ally and Trish fell silent. Everything seemed like it was going to be perfect back then. They didn't know what kind of person Jimmy would turn out to be.

Ally went over to sit right next to Austin. She placed her hand under his chin and lifted his head up to meet her eyes.

"Hey" she said "this is not the end of your career. Just because you lost your record deal doesn't mean it's all over. This is just another memory to add to the rest.

"We" she gestured to herself, Trish and Dez "will never give up on getting this back for you. Doesn't matter if it takes years and years of work, you are going to perform again. So sorry about your luck, Moon, but it looks like your stuck with us for a while."

Austin smiled at his best friends and the love of his life, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm ok with that."


End file.
